Sweet Peas for Sweet Pea
by Lady of the Spirit
Summary: Sweet Pea probably should have guessed what was going on when Archie randomly sent him a text asking if he was allergic to flowers. When Sweet Pea responded "No, why?", Archie only sent back a red heart emoji that made Sweet Pea smile more than it probably should have. (Oneshot. Sweet Pea/Archie.)


Sweet Pea probably should have guessed what was going on when Archie randomly sent him a text asking if he was allergic to flowers. When Sweet Pea responded "No, why?", Archie only sent back a red heart emoji that made Sweet Pea smile more than it probably should have.

But no, Sweet Pea simply smiled at the heart emoji and moved on with his day. That was his own fault. In hindsight, it was probably stupid of him to not suspect something would come of it.

About two hours after the brief conversation with his boyfriend, Sweet Pea was sitting on the front steps of his trailer, playing fetch with Hot Dog while Fangs and Toni lounged in their beach chairs. There was no drama in Riverdale for once. Jughead and Betty were off being gross and romantic somewhere else. Toni was texting with Cheryl and kept smiling at her phone screen. Fangs was dozing off, only waking up to throw the stick every few minutes whenever Hot Dog brought it to him instead of Sweet Pea. It was just a lazy summer day.

Sweet Pea wished Archie were here. Maybe he would have brought Vegas and the dogs could have run around together while he and Sweet Pea sat and talked and maybe (probably) made out a little bit (a lot). It would have been nice.

They hadn't spent much time together lately, on account of Archie's job at his dad's construction site. Archie would usually be so tired after a long day at work that he would get home and crash for the rest of the day. Most of their contact was through long phone calls and texting. They were seeing each other in person every few days. When they did see each other, it was so nice it almost made up for their lack of time together.

"Cheryl just saw Archie," Toni announced. Sweet Pea spun to face her. Toni, who had finally looked up from her phone, was grinning at his apparent eagerness. He scowled at her. She laughed and then looked down to continue reading the message. "She said it looks like he's on his way over here. She said to let you know."

"Red's coming this way?" Fangs said, not opening his eyes even as he grinned. "We'd better say our goodbyes now, Toni."

"That happened literally _only one time_, _shut up_." Sweet Pea did not need reminding of that one time he had left his friends in the middle of a conversation to go greet Archie without saying a word.

It probably would have been forgotten if it hadn't had happened in the middle of a conversation about how easily Sweet Pea was distracted by Archie.

"_Never_," Toni said.

"We will never forget that heartbreak," Fangs agreed, shaking his head and sighing. "Betrayed by our best friend. Tossed aside like we meant nothing to you."

"Remember when Cheryl smiled and Toni tripped over nothing?" Sweet Pea asked. Toni gasped and Fangs laughed out loud.

"How _dare _you, Pea, bringing that up-"

"She wasn't even smiling at you! She was looking at a picture of her dog!"

"You're one to talk, Fangs, remember when Kevin put his hand on your shoulder and you got so shy you had to leave the room-"

"That was an unrelated issue and _you know it-_"

"Oh, yeah, okay, _sure-_"

Sweet Pea grinned as he watched them bicker, satisfied that he wasn't the focus of their teasing. The sound of Archie calling his name caught his attention and he immediately turned. Archie was walking towards them, his hair all messed up and his shirt covered in dirt from a long day of hard work, but when he got close enough for Sweet Pea to see his smile, Sweet Pea couldn't think of anything he would want to see more than his boyfriend, and he started smiling too.

Then when Archie got closer, Hot Dog took off towards him and started jumping up at him; probably looking for signs of Vegas, Sweet Pea thought. Archie started laughing and bent down to give the Sheepdog a few pets to get him to calm down, and in doing so, Sweet Pea saw what Archie was holding in his hand and his smile dropped. It was definitely a good thing Archie was distracted or the redhead would have seen and thought it was because of something he had done. It was, but it wasn't a bad thing. It was just-

Archie reached him and smiled down at him, and the combination of that and the sunlight catching the red of his hair and making it shine like gold and knowing what Archie was holding in his hands made Sweet Pea's heart skip a beat.

"Hey," Archie greeted warmly.

Sweet Pea slowly rose to his feet. "Hi." He tried to keep his eyes on Archie, but he kept glancing down to his hands. "What's this visit for?"

"What, I can't just want to surprise my boyfriend every once in a while?" Archie asked in an offended voice, but he was still smiling so Sweet Pea knew he was just kidding.

"Not when you show up with a _bouquet_," Sweet Pea said, trying to sound playful even as his heart hammered against his ribs.

Toni and Fang's bickering in the background came to an abrupt stop. Sweet Pea didn't dare look at them, already knowing what he'd see if he turned around.

Archie's smile turned bashful and Sweet Pea could see some pink in his cheeks that was not from the summer heat. His heart beat a little faster.

"Yeah, this is why I came over, actually, to give you these." Archie raised the flowers so Sweet Pea could see them properly. "I was at the store for my lunch break and I saw them, and I thought of you. I went back later and bought them."

Sweet Pea stared at the flowers. "These are-"

"Sweet peas," Archie finished. "Yeah, I know, that's why I thought of you."

Sweet Pea stared at the strange-looking flowers held in Archie's grip. He had always thought the flower was strange, since it didn't have a defining shape; they were vaguely round, but not enough to be considered round. They were delicate flowers, looking like they could have been made from tissue paper kids used in art projects and would tear if given the slightest pressure. Still, they were his favourite flower because they had been his mother's favourite flower, it had been his mother's nickname for him, one he went by all his life despite any ridicule he got from anybody else.

And now Archie was giving him a bouquet of the same flower he had been named for.

Sweet Pea could feel heat crawling up his neck. He forced an easy-going smile, trying to shove down the feelings that would have had him blush even more and reduced him to a walking disaster. "That's so _corny_, Red," he said, with just the slightest tremor he wasn't able to hide. "Oh my _god_."

Archie raised an eyebrow and pulled the flowers towards himself. "Well, if you don't want them." he looked over at Toni, who Sweet Pea was still stubbornly refusing to look at. "Toni, do you want some flowers?"

Before Toni could say anything, Sweet Pea stepped closer to Archie and put his hand over Archie's. "No," he said firmly. "I want them."

Archie smiled up at him knowingly and Sweet Pea felt his heartbeat in his ears. He cleared his throat and looked down at the flowers, at the _sweet peas_. "Since you brought them all the way here, I mean," he said.

Fangs made a stifled laugh and Sweet Pea had to resist the urge to glare at him because that would mean looking at him.

"If you're sure," Archie said.

"Yes, I want them." Sweet Pea gripped Archie's hand more firmly. "Something to remind me to make fun of you for later on." He gave another grin, trying to display his normal teasing self.

Then Archie covered Sweet Pea's hand with his other hand, as gently as he could, and Sweet Pea felt his resolve crumble. His grin wavered and became a soft, shy smile. Warmth flooded his face. He could feel how tender his expression was as he looked at Archie. He could only imagine what he looked like.

Archie just squeezed his hand and smiled fondly up at him.

Sweet Pea cleared his throat again. "Thank you," he said finally, and he didn't thiink he was just thanking Archie for the flowers.

"You're welcome," Archie said, and Sweet Pea thought he might have understood.

Archie let go of Sweet Pea's hand and passed the flowers onto him. Sweet Pea held them as tenderly as he could and looked down at them. Most of them were a light purple, but there were some pastel pinks and a few light blues that reminded him of that painting by Van Gogh of the blue flowers for some reason, even though he knew those flowers probably weren't sweet peas.

Sweet Pea smiled again as he looked down at them.

"I should go put these in some water," he said, taking a step back to head to his trailer.

"Yeah, and oh! My dad wanted to see if you would come over for dinner. Because it's been a while since you've come over."

Sweet Pea nodded. "That would be great."

"Awesome." Archie absolutely beamed and the sun turned his hair gold again and Sweet Pea just had to kiss him. He made sure to keep the flowers out of the way so they wouldn't get crushed, but with his free hand, Sweet Pea cupped the back of Archie's head and pulled him into the kiss. Sweet Pea did his best to channel all of his feelings into the kiss, trying to tell Archie without words what he was feeling; if the tender way Archie cupped Sweet Pea's face was any indication, he understood completely.

They pulled away at the same time, and Sweet Pea gently knocked his forehead against Archie's and smiled. Archie pushed a lock of hair out of Sweet Pea's eyes.

"Alright, just give me a second," Sweet Pea said quietly before he reluctantly took a step back and turned around. In doing so he accidentally looked at his two best friends, who hadn't said a word the whole time but had sat and watched eagerly.

Toni was hiding her mouth behind her hand, but she was clearly grinning so widely that Sweet Pea wondered if it hurt. Her eyes sparkled with what could have been affection and joy, but could just as easily been amusement. Fangs made no attempt to hide his smile and openly beamed at Sweet Pea, clearly genuinely happy for him. At the same time, the look in his eyes promised some teasing would come later on - not for the display of emotions, of course, Sweet Pea knew Fangs well enough to know he wouldn't make fun of anyone for something like that, but for Sweet Pea's obvious shyness about the whole thing. Sweet Pea could still feel the blush he wore, and the reminder made him flip Fangs off. Fangs merely grinned wider.

Sweet Pea got out a glass big enough for the bouquet, filled it with water, and set it on his table. He stared at the arrangement for a little bit longer.

He smiled once more, just for himself and the sweet peas before him.


End file.
